Dave Prentis

Last updated

The Right Honourable
The Lord Prentis of Leeds
Dave Prentis.JPG
Prentis speaking at the Labour Party Conference in 2002
3rd General Secretary of UNISON
In office
1 January 2001 –22 January 2021

David Prentis, Baron Prentis of Leeds (born 29 May 1948) [1] [2] is a British trade unionist and former General Secretary of UNISON, the United Kingdom's largest trade union. [3] He was originally elected in 2000. He was re-elected in March 2005, with 77% of the vote, [4] in 2010 (with 67% of the vote), [5] and in 2015 (with 49% of the vote). [6]

Contents

Early life

Prentis was born and brought up in Leeds where he attended St Michael's College from 1959 to 1967. He went to the University of London where he took a BA in History, then studied Economic History at the London School of Economics. This was followed by a master's degree in Industrial Relations at the University of Warwick. [2]

Trade unions

He joined NALGO in 1975, and in 1990 he became its deputy general secretary. He was UNISON's deputy general secretary (DGS) from its formation in July 1993, when it was formed from NALGO, NUPE and CoHSE. [2]

UNISON leadership

In his role as the deputy general secretary, Prentis directed UNISON's national negotiating team and oversaw the union's policy making functions. He also drove through a strategic review of the union, aimed at delivering key reforms, to bring union services closer to the members. In 2001, he succeeded Rodney Bickerstaffe as General Secretary of UNISON, having been elected in February 2000.

Prentis was responsible for 1,500 staff and a turnover of around £160 million. As General Secretary, he received a total salary and benefits package worth £112,114 in the accounting year ending 31 December 2013. [7]

He was a member of the TUC General Council, TUC executive committee and the Trade Union Labour Party Liaison Committee. He was elected President of the TUC for the year 2008. [8]

In July 2020, he announced his decision to step down at the end of the year. [9] Christina McAnea was elected as his successor in a ballot of members, in which she won 47.7% of the vote. [10]

It was announced on 14 October 2022, that as part of the 2022 Special Honours, Prentis would receive a life peerage, sitting for the Labour Party. [11] On 18 November 2022, he was created Baron Prentis of Leeds, of Harehills in the City of Leeds . [12]

Public appointments

Personal life

In 2000, he was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus and stomach. He had much of his stomach removed, underwent chemotherapy, and then contracted MRSA in hospital. Since his recovery from cancer he has been unable to eat large meals. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unison (trade union)</span> British trade union

Unison is a British trade union. Along with Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public services, including local government, education, health and outsourced services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communication Workers Union (United Kingdom)</span> UK trade union

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) is the main trade union in the United Kingdom for people working for telephone, cable, digital subscriber line (DSL) and postal delivery companies. It has 110,000 members in Royal Mail as well as more in many other communication companies.

Accord is an independent trade union, affiliated to the TUC and the Scottish TUC and specialized for around 25,000 staff in financial services, including members in the Lloyds Banking Group, MBNA, TSB, The Equitable Life Assurance Society and Sainsbury's Bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rodney Bickerstaffe</span> British trade unionist

Rodney Kevan Bickerstaffe was a British trade unionist. He was General Secretary of the National Union of Public Employees (1982–1993) and UNISON (1996–2001), Britain's largest trade union at the time. He later became president of the UK National Pensioners Convention (2001–2005).

The National and Local Government Officers' Association was a British trade union representing mostly local government "white collar" workers. It was formed in 1905 as the National Association of Local Government Officers, and changed its full name in 1952 while retaining its widely used acronym, NALGO. By the late 1970s it was the largest British white collar trade union, with over 700,000 members. It was one of three unions which combined to form UNISON in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Wrack</span>

Matthew D. Wrack is a British trade unionist and former firefighter. He was elected General Secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in May 2005.

The FDA, formerly The Association of First Division Civil Servants, is a trade union for UK senior and middle management civil servants and public service professionals founded in 1919.

Alan Raymond Jinkinson was a British trade union leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition</span> Political party in the United Kingdom

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is a socialist electoral alliance in Britain. It was originally launched for the 2010 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rita Donaghy, Baroness Donaghy</span> Labour politician and life peer

Rita Margaret Donaghy, Baroness Donaghy, CBE, FRSA is a British university administrator, trade unionist and Labour life peer in the House of Lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances O'Grady, Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway</span> British trade unionist (born 1959)

Frances Lorraine Maria O'Grady, Baroness O'Grady of Upper Holloway, is a British former trade unionist leader, who served as the General Secretary of the British Trades Union Congress (TUC) from 2013 to 2022, being the first woman to hold the position. After O'Grady presented her resignation in 2022, Paul Nowak was selected to succeed her; he took up the post on 29 December 2022. O'Grady sits as a life peer in the House of Lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trades Union Congress</span> Trade union centre in England and Wales

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of about 5.5 million members. Paul Nowak is the TUC's current General Secretary, serving from January 2023.

John Denby Sheldon is a British trade unionist and former General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, and its predecessors; NUCPS, PTC and the CSU.

Geoffrey Ayrton Drain CBE was a British trade union leader who was General Secretary of NALGO from 1973 to 1983, when it was the third largest trade union in the country.

John Daniel Daly was a British trade union leader.

Managerial and Professional Officers (MPO) was a trade union representing senior staff working for local authorities in the United Kingdom.

The Newcastle upon Tyne Trades Union Council is a trades council bringing together trade unionists in Newcastle upon Tyne, in northern England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christina McAnea</span> Scottish trade union leader

Christina McAnea is a Scottish trade union leader. She was elected as general secretary of Unison in succession to Dave Prentis, and took up the post on 22 January 2021.

Alison Shepherd is a British former trade unionist.

References

  1. ↑ Gary Daniels and John McIlroy, Trade Unions in a Neoliberal World
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Christopher Hope (24 July 2008). "Profile: Dave Prentis, an elder statesman of the awkward squad". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 31 July 2009.
  3. ↑ "UNISON: The Public Service Union: 2017 Annual Return" (PDF). Gov.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  4. ↑ Unison.org.uk – About Dave Prentis. Retrieved 27 April 2006.
  5. ↑ "Dave Prentis re-elected as UNISON General Secretary", UNISON, 22 June 2010
  6. ↑ "Dave Prentis re-elected as UNISON general secretary", UNISON, 22 December 2015
  7. ↑ "UNISON financial Statements, 2013" (PDF). p. 16. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  8. ↑ "New TUC President elected in Brighton". Trades Union Congress. 13 September 2007. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  9. ↑ "Unison: Union boss Dave Prentis stepping down after 20 years". BBC News. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  10. ↑ Parkinson, Justin (11 January 2021). "UK's biggest union elects first woman leader". BBC News. BBC.
  11. ↑ "Political Peerages 2022". GOV.UK. 14 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  12. ↑ "Crown Office | The Gazette". www.thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  13. ↑ "Bank of England | About the Bank | People & governance | The Court of Directors". Archived from the original on 7 May 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  14. ↑ "Bank of England Annual Report, 2014" (PDF). p. 53. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.

News items

Trade union offices
Preceded by Deputy General Secretary of NALGO
1990–1993		Position abolished
New post Deputy General Secretary of UNISON
1993–2000
With: Colm O'Kane and Tom Sawyer (1993–1994) 		Succeeded by
Keith Sonnet
Preceded by General Secretary of UNISON
2001–2021		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of the Trades Union Congress
2008		Succeeded by
Sheila Bearcroft
Preceded by President of the Public Services International
2010–2023		Succeeded by
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Prentis of Leeds		Followed by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.